Yes, and two of the programmes in our Publishing Database will generate one from your existing ebook without charging for it. Google's auto-narration costs nothing during the Beta period, though the fee is set by policy rather than by the agreement. Draft2Digital's digital narration is currently free to Draft2Digital authors. What you give up is written into the agreements, and it is different in each. Withdraw a Google recording and you may never sell it again, anywhere — directly, through third parties, in lending programmes or in subscriptions. A Draft2Digital recording is sold in Apple Books only, apart from library channels through Draft2Digital, and you cannot withdraw it — not for six months after its first commercial release.
Both take an ebook you have already published on the platform and turn it into a machine-narrated audiobook. You do not upload audio, hire a narrator or pay for studio time.
"Free" means something different in each case. Google's fee is set by its Program Policies rather than the agreement, and Google can change those policies. Draft2Digital describes its price as current, not permanent. Neither agreement promises that the zero will last.
Google pays a flat 52% of list price, with no territorial uplift. For comparison, its ebook programme pays 52% of list price as standard, with 70% applied in certain territories at Google’s discretion, so the audiobook never gets the higher ebook rate. Google sets the price readers pay but calculates your share on the list price you recommended, so a Google-funded discount does not reduce your payout.
Draft2Digital states no rate at all. The audiobook agreement says Draft2Digital passes on whatever royalties it receives, less its commission, and that this is your sole compensation for the rights granted. In practice that means Apple's audiobook rate minus Draft2Digital's share, which on its main platform is about 10% of retail, taken after the retailer’s own cut. Neither figure is fixed by this agreement, so there is no rate to quote.
This is the term that matters most, and it is easy to miss because it only applies when you leave. Under section 6.4 of the agreement, if you withdraw the audiobook, you may never sell it again, anywhere — directly, through third parties, in lending programmes or in subscriptions. The restriction survives termination, so closing the account does not lift it. You can download a copy of the audio. You just cannot sell it.
While the audiobook is live, it is formally non-exclusive, with two conditions:
The restriction is written about the audiobook Google generated. Our record does not settle how it would apply to a human-narrated recording of the same book that you commission later. If that is your plan, read section 6.4 before you enrol, not after.
Draft2Digital's version is the opposite shape: strict while it is live, finite on the way out.
Two more clauses deserve a careful read. The grant of rights in section 3 includes derivative works and your name and likeness. Section 4 states that you have no interest in the audiobook itself. The recording belongs to the programme, not to you.
The Google agreement also lets Google create derivative works of it, both to build the audiobook and for “testing and making improvements to the Google Services”. The licence is worldwide, non-exclusive and sublicensable, and it survives termination. "Google Services" is defined as any product or technology Google or its affiliates provide or are developing. The agreement does not mention AI training, but the right is broad enough that it leaves the question open. See Do publishing platforms train AI on my book?
Treat free AI narration as an experiment that has a cost when you leave, and pick the programme whose exit terms you can live with:
If a professionally narrated audiobook is in your plan for this title, Draft2Digital's terms leave that route open. Google's leave it unclear.
Terms are quoted from the agreements as recorded in the AuthorAZ Publishing Database. Platform facts verified 4 September 2026.
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